The debacle continues: AT&T pulls LG CU500v, too

So, what web dev over at AT&T is getting a black mark on his next annual review? It seems now that both the Nokia N75 and the LG CU500v have been pulled from AT&T's site following an exciting morning that was shaping up to be one of the more memorable for AT&T subscribers in recent memory. It's one thing to accidentally throw up some generic, low-end flip prematurely, but to taunt us with two groundbreaking (relatively speaking) phones is super uncool. The day's not over, AT&T -- there's still time to repent -- but if the sun goes down with nary an N75 or CU500v order fulfilled, be prepared to deal with the wrath of a thousand fanboys and fangirls.

[michael @ Apr 27th 2007 5:32PM]

I don't get it. When Apple does something like this (many times before) everybody seems to go nuts and merry about it. Yet when AT&T does it, it's a really bad thing? Please explain this.

[Todd @ Apr 27th 2007 5:51PM]

Here's a video of what it's gonna look like outside the Cingular stores if they keep this up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBfclHakkjo

[randy @ Apr 27th 2007 5:53PM]

What is 3D sound? I don't understand.

[Anthony @ Apr 27th 2007 6:27PM]

Here's the thing: Who reading Engadget is buying phones from carriers in the 1st place?

I mean "fanboys"? Come on. Fans already have the Nokia N95 or some Korean-only superphone & couldn't care less what wifi-less, carrier crippled POS ATT/Cingular's selling/not selling.

[Lee Gibson @ Apr 27th 2007 6:46PM]

"When Apple does something like this (many times before) everybody seems to go nuts and merry about it."

When Apple does something like what, exactly? I'm confused.

[jason @ Apr 27th 2007 7:02PM]

Anthony - you're spot-on. Got the N95 two weeks ago, and I'd never consider one of these (relatively) lame devices.

Boring people buy handsets from operators, and contribute to the tyranny that operators exercise over features and functions. Fanboys/girls buy from grey-market channels that offer the cool stuff that operators won't gamble on (or want to proactively disable).

[Irfan @ Apr 28th 2007 2:38AM]

i wonder if the cu500v has the same problem as the original cu500... where if someone on the other end of the line doesnt talk for a few seconds their next word will slowly fade in and you end up not knowing what they just said. that and the crappy voice/light as hell cheap plastic build quality made me return it within a week.

[Hiro11 @ Apr 28th 2007 9:36AM]

lrfan: not sure what you're talking about. I've had the CU500 for about 9 months and it's the best phone I've ever had by a country mile. Everything about it works perfectly and it's built like a tank.

[Ashton @ Apr 30th 2007 5:39AM]

I have the CU500 too and it's the best phone I've ever had. I don't see what all the fuss is about this mistake. Everyone (especially at Engadget, no offense to the admins but you guys are way biased) seems to love to hate Cingular lately. If this happened at Verizon no one would care. Cingular has done so well the past couple years at fixing its issues and implementing new technology, cut the company some slack and stop the whining.

[Ken @ Apr 30th 2007 10:06PM]

The only real complaint I've had about the LG CU500 is that it can't seem to read regular ascii text files (.txt) like my Nokia 3650 (the phone with the keys in a circle).

Oh and you can't minimize games so you can see the time.

[Ashley @ Jul 12th 2007 10:47PM]

Ok.. so I've had the CU500v since January. It started off well, it was an exciting phone with cool features such as mp3 capability and the neat picture features. But now... it hardly ever works. Someone sitting right next to me will call my phone and it will never ring. This happens often, not all the time, but very often. My text messages will be delayed for hours or sometimes not even show up. Occasionally if I reset my phone I'll recieve all my texts and voicemails at once, but other times my messages are lost. I don't know why I'm having this problem... I've been with cingular for over 4 years now and I'm guessing this crappy service has something to do with my phone being pulled?? Any ideas??